A Love Not Bound By Time
by Tim Johnson
Summary: An incident causes Hong Meiling to lose something that is most precious to her and Sakuya has to live with the guilt. shoujo-ai elements
1. It Begins

A Love Not Bound By Time

Gensokyo, a place where humans and youkai live in semi-peace. But, things weren't so peaceful in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The infamous gatekeeper of the mansion, Hong Meiling was sleeping on her chair outside the gate as usual. This did not go unnoticed by the head maid, Sakuya Izayoi. She pulled out a few of her signature knives and prepared to hurl them at her.

"Shirking your duties again? Eh, China!" Sakuya yelled as she threw her knives at Meiling. Luckily, Meiling awoke in the nick of time. "Huh? Oh, Miss Sakuya!" Meiling greeted as she skillfully dodged two of the three knives, but the last one, she wasn't lucky enough to dodge. It unceremoniously hit her right between the eyes. Although this may have been normal routine for them, something was different about this time. "You should know better than to sleep during your work hours. Who knows what might happen if you're asleep?" Sakuya lectured as she turned around preparing to go back inside.

"Heheh, good morning to you too Miss Sakuya. I was just getting a few more minutes of sleep before my..." Meiling said, but slurred her words mid-sentence as she started to feel drowsy. 'Huh? What's this? There's more blood coming from the knife than usual...Something, must be wrong...Miss Sakuya...' Meiling thought as her eyes drooped closed and she blacked out, face first, with a loud thud. Even after falling, she was still bleeding profusely. It even started to make a small puddle on the floor.

At the sound of someone falling, Sakuya immediately turned around. " Hey, are you falling asleep on me China?" When there wasn't a response, she tried again. "China? Hey China, don't joke around. This isn't funny. China? Meiling?" After her last try at waking Meiling, she knelt by her side and flipped her over because she landed face first into the pavement. "Meiling, hey Meiling. Come on wake up," Sakuya desperately tried again out of worry. She even went as far to slap her a few times. When there still wasn't a response, Sakuya began to notice the ever growing puddle of blood around them.

'Oh no, this is bad, she's losing too much blood' thought Sakuya as she instinctively removed the knife and applied pressure to the deep wound. Then she ripped off a piece a piece of her sleeve to act as a makeshift bandage. The bleeding stopped for the most part, but it still needed medical attention. "Wait here for a minute, I need to get the mistress. We need to get you to Eirin's Place for some medical help," she told the unconscious Meiling. 'No, wait, I can't just leave her here. I guess it can't be helped, I'll just have to carry her.,' Sakuya thought as she picked up Meiling bridal style.

'Wow, she's lighter than I thought,' was her last thought before she rushed inside to find her mistress.

* * *

Disclaimer : I do not own Touhou Project or any of its characters.

A/N : Touhou story about a fictional event in Sakuya and Meiling's time line. Chapter 1.

Notes -

Scarlet Devil Mansion : home to Remilia Scarlet, vampire of Gensokyo, along with her sister Flandre, Patchouli, Sakuya, and Meiling. Basic location of Touhou 6

Eirin's Place : or Eientei is the location that is occupied by Eirin Yagokoro,local doctor/medic/pharmacist of Gensokyo, along with Kaguya, Reisen, and Tewi


	2. It Continues

It Continues

"Mistress! Where are you?" Sakuya said as she ran through the corridors of the mansion, all the while with a knocked out Meiling in her arms. "Hey you, where is Mistress Remilia?" she asked a nearby maid.

"She should be on the third floor balcony."

"I see. Thank you very much," she quickly thanked the maid and rushed in the direction of the third floor balcony.

On the way she thought, 'Damn, why is this mansion so big and why are the staircases so huge,' as she ran up a flight of stairs. By the time she got there, she was completely out of breath. She set Meiling down on a nearby chair in order to catch her breath.

"Sakuya? Whats the matter?" Remilia Scarlet, vampire and mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, aked the tired and breathless maid. Once Sakuya caught her breath, she answered, "I caught China here, sleeping on the job and I threw a knife at her and now she's unconscious."

"Why would you do that? It is still fifteen minutes before the start of her shift," Remilia replied as she checked her watch.

"Really? I was unaware of that...Never mind that now! We need to get her to Eirin's as soon as possible. She could be seriously hurt!" Sakuya said in a worried tone.

"I understand. You should go. We should do fine without you two for a while," She replied.

"Okay! Thank you Mistress!" Sakuya eagerly responded and flew right off the balcony.

'Wait, I think I forgot something...Oh yeah!' Sakuya went back to the balcony to pick up the forgotten Meiling.

"I'm going Mistress," Sakuya told her Mistress as she flew back towards Eientei again.

"Have a safe trip!" Remilia waved to the fleeting form of Sakuya.

'Heh, so she really does care for our gatekeeper. Why can't they just realize theur feelings for eachother already?' she though as she stared off into the distance Sakuya went, with a slight smile on her face.

* * *

A/N : Kind of short chapter, but still good


	3. It Progresses

It Progresses...

'Don't worry Meiling we're almost there. Wow, even unconscious, she is still pretty cute,' Saluya thought to herself as she approached Eientei.

When she reached her destination, she dashed through the front doors. Inside, there was some kind of a waiting room, complete with magazines, chairs, and a receptionist's desk. Reisen Udongein Inaba is the local lunar rabbit and standing receptionist of Eientei.

"Oh my, what happened Sakuya?" Reisen asked the distressed maid.

"Well, things happened and now Meiling is unconscious," Sakuya replied.

"Eirin should be just about done with her current patient," Reisen told the worried maid.

"Okay..."

Eirin Yagokoro is the local doctor and medical specialist of Gensokyo. Just then Alice Margatroid, Gensokyo's mage and doll expert, walked out of Eirin's office with a distraught look on her face and a bottle of pills in her hand. This bothered Sakuya for a moment as she stared briefly at Alice's fleeting form as she exited the waiting room without a word.

"Udonge! Send in the next patient please," Eirin called out from her place in the office.

"Yes! Right away Miss Eirin," replied as she gestured for Sakuya to enter the next room.

"Excuse me," Sakuya said as she entered the examination room with Meiling tightly held.

"Ah Sakuya, what brings you here at this time of day?" Eirin greeted from her position behind her desk.

"Well, Meiling's hurt and needs medical attention," Sakuya replied.

"Oh, that looks quite serious. Lay her on the examination bed right there, if you will," Eirin suggested. 'Wait, did she just call her Meiling? I didn't even think she even knew her name, with all the times she called her China. Meh must be my imagination,' Eirin thought for a moment as she prepared to examine the patient.

"Yes," Sakuya complied and placed Meiling on the bed.

"Hmm, what kind of injury is it?" Eirin asked.

"Um its a... stab wound, Sakuya reluctantly answered.

"Again?"

"Yes, but it was different this time. She wouldn't usually black out from something like that."

"I see, I'll need take some x-rays to assess the injury. She doesn't look too bad, at least she's still breathing," Eirin concurred.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sakuya asked hopefully.

"No, it should be fine. You may return to the mansion. I will give you a call if there are any developments," Eirin told the frantically worried Sakuya.

"Okay, well, I'll be going then," Sakuya replied uneasily.

"I'll be waiting for your return," Eirin said with a reassuring smile on her face as Sakuya left the room.

'She looked worried. It is quite an anomaly for someone like Hong Meiling to collapse like this. Could it be stress? No, She's too carefree to be stressed. What could it be?' Eirin thought as she proceeded to examine the unresponsive form of Hong Meiling.

* * *

A/N : 3rd chapter. Sakuya arrived at Eientei. Eirin is puzzled by this phenomenon. The story becomes more of a mystery. Side note : will update at least once a week with classes and such


	4. It Develops

It Develops...

"Bye Reisen, it was nice seeing you again," greeted Sakuya as she prepared to exit the facility.

"Bye. We hope to see you soon," Reisen replied readily. ' I sure hope Meiling is okay, for both of their sakes. Meiling is such a nice person and the sense of urgency that I felt from Sakuya was unprecedented. Ah, I must go check if Master needs assistance," thought Reisen as she went to where Eirin was.

Sakuya decided to walk home, instead of fly. "Meiling... Why do I feel the need to worry about you? Why do I feel the sudden urge to be by your side? What happened... to you, Meiling," Sakuya said to herself since there was seemingly no one around. Little to her knowledge, she was being followed by a suspicious, lady-like figure. 'Heheh, humans are interesting indeed,' the figure thought

When she got back to the mansion, she told Remilia about what happened and she gave her the rest of the day off. Sakuya went off to her room to lay face-down on her bed. "I'm sorry Meiling, I'm really sorry..." Sakuya apologized as tears began to stream down her face.

'Remorse? Certainly an interesting emotion, showed by her,' the mystery woman thought as she listened from her position outside of Sakuya's bedroom.

* * *

Disclaimer : characters not mine. etc

A/N : 4th chapter, kind of short though, the story deepens


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